I already have a 50 ft. 16 gauge, 13 amp cord. Also have a 100 ft. 16 gauge 10 amp cord. They say "light duty" so I'm skeptical. Are either of these ok for the heater? If not, which gauge and amp rating cord should I buy?
Plugged into a 110v outlet that heater pulls about 13.6 amps. Amps is usually how u judge what thickness of wire to use. I always err on the side of caution but here's some rough/ safe numbers. 16 gauge up to 10 amps. 14 gauge can handle shorter runs up to 15 amps. Longer than 50ft or so and for something that will run for longer than a couple hours at a time 12 gauge would not be a bad idea. 14 gauge is the 15 amp standard. Keep in mind however also that you usually don't want to go over 80% capacity on a circuit in amps. For something like a heater that will run all the time I wouldn't put it on a 15 amp circuit at all. If you must go with the 12 gauge and prob don't put anything else on the circuit or it will just trip a lot probably. If you run it at 750w either cord will be adequate.
Um what? He said 1500 watts...a standard extention cord from any home improvement store can hand 1875 watts. I have a 1500 heater hooked up to an extention cord thats then connected to a wall socket and havent seen a single issue